SP2 ‘New Born’ (Viper A), 2007. Photography by Keizo Kioku. All Images Courtesy of the Artist and YAMAMOTO GENDAI

Odani Motohiko knows how to generate a reaction. In his first solo show back in 1997, the artist arranged for a nurse to come and take 1.4 liters of his own blood for an installation he was planning entitled, Fair Completion. A small fan in the corner of the room was used to float a series of soap bubbles filled with a single drop of that blood across the gallery. After a few moments the soap bubbles would burst, sending ruby splatters across the white space and a collective chill down the spines of the audience. At the Tokyo opening, a single woman was overheard saying, “Isn’t it beautiful?” Though Odani’s work seems purely confrontational, the themes he explores are as interwoven as the Tokyo streets and hold just as many questions. Time, the human body, and primitive senses such as sensuality, shame and fear are evident in everything Odani creates, including his newest installation, 9th Room, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. The piece is made up of an enclosed room of waterfalls projected onto four different screens. The ceiling and the floor are mirrored, encapsulating anyone inside with a 360-degree sensation of falling. Terrifying, yes, but extremely primordial; the title is a reference to Dante’s ninth and final circle of Hell. Installation aside, Odani is equally at home working in digital animation, photography, and sculpture. His recent return to the latter has the art world buzzing that this “dead art” may be in for a little shock treatment. Until then, trust that Odani Motohiko will keep the answers hanging in the air.